Gimmicks of CES and Macworld

We here are pretty much pooped from CES and Macworld, but we bring to you a round-up of some random gimmicks and gadgets from the two tech trade shows.

They include:

— Dozens of “booth babes” dressed up as hospital candy stripers wandering the CES show floor, passing out prescriptions for DirecTV. Their diagnosis: HDD, or high definition disorder. We ask: If you’re going to objectify women, why not dress them up as doctors? Hello? There are lots of sexy female doctors out there. See: “Grey’s Anatomy.” Why must women always be nurses and candy stripers? And how come we never see any male booth babes?

Go gadget, go.

— We thought we’d add to the hype, er, media attention, of Second Life, the online virtual world, by reporting on an exercise bicycle, the PC GamerBike, that connects to computers through a USB port and helps you get some exercise as you spend hours building your Second Life empire. The bicycle pedals acts as the up and down keys when you play a computer game, whether it’s Second Life or World of Warcraft. Pedal fast and you’ll race through Second Life. You can also pedal backward, or meander around by pedaling slowly.

— Casio offered a mechanical bull ride to show off its digital cameras and camcorders. Yeehaw.

More photos and bites on Google, Evangeline Lilly and gophers after the jump.

But what about the man with the patch in the second hatch?

— As reported before, one of the highlights of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s keynote was the appearance of Evangeline Lilly and Matthew Fox from “Lost.” Sadly, they did not reveal any information on the Others, the polar bear or the island.

— Also at Macworld, a marching band that had performed in the Rose Parade played a couple of songs in front of Moscone Center. We asked what they were promoting, but unfortuantely we have since forgetten the name of the company, except that it has to do with iPod cases. Guess that gimmick didn’t work.

— Back at CES, here’s a remote control by Hillcrest Labs that acts like a mouse for the television. It looks like a toy you give to a baby, and when you wave it around, the arrow on the television screen moves with you. It uses RFID technology (radio frequency identification) to track your movements, so to get this to consumers, television manufacturers are going to have to license the technology. We’re told that’ll be later this year. … We’ll see.

The remote (the black circle at lower right) helps you whack a gopher on TV.